MINIMUM SENTENCES REQUIRED

Dear Editor:

A somewhat belated response to "Forum backs integrated approach to
drugs" (North Shore News, Oct. 10) in which you note that my namesake,
Wallace Craig, a contemporary in the practice of law, favours the
"better enforcement of drug laws" and "tougher sentences." The other
panelists want us to continue doing what we have been doing,
unsuccessfully, for years, because, after all, they are human beings.

But so are we, who are not druggies or in the business.

Just because we no longer hang criminals doesn't mean that some
discomfort is to be foregone. If a convict receives a one year
penalty, then on each repeated offence, it should be doubled. For a
person engaged in the marketing of drugs, let's have a minimum penalty
of 10years, not one dependent on the persuasiveness of defence counsel.

James A. Craig